How AI undermines the ethics of teaching

As AI becomes increasingly embedded in higher education, I argue that its integration is not a neutral enhancement but a socio-technical shift that often alienates educators from their labour, purpose, and professional relationships. Reframing the concept of alienation through critical theory, educational ethics, and data justice, I identify four ways in which AI estranges teachers: from their pedagogical outputs, their teaching processes, their vocational identity, and their social bonds. Engaging with recent developments in generative AI and emotion-sensing tools, I underline how these systems frequently reinforce logics of standardisation, surveillance, and commercialisation. In response, I propose a multidimensional framework for resistance, through policy reform, participatory design, and critical pedagogy, culminating in four ethical principles: epistemic humility, relational primacy, contextual adaptability, and democratic co-design. The paper calls for a reimagining of AI’s role in education, grounded not in technological inevitability but in moral responsibility and educational justice.